Out goes manufacturing, in comes...housing?

This NYTimes article about new luxury housing development along the Hudson River, just outside of New York City, sheds some light on all the calls we've been getting from developers to work on new town centers and mixed-use development (mostly in California and Florida). Seems like many are grappling with how to create instantaneous, vibrant places, and wanting immediate benefits (profit).

At least there's greater appreciation for the small things that make a place work (see the last sentence in the article), but the harried way at which they are arrived, to support or block the development proposal, is not reassuring. We've been brought in a few times already to "save" a mixed-use master plan, where we have limited effect. In some cases, we're even brought in at the beginning, before any design, only to have the architects and master planners ignore it anyway. Argh. It looks like changing this process will take more effort upfront and for much longer and deeper, and require more than changing the design process - it's also changing decision making processes in leadership. As the adage goes, anything worth doing is worth doing well, and one thing that few are doing is taking time in the beginning to understand all the small, critical elements that go into making a place great.